Despite beating Airdrie United 4-1 last week, Saints boss Gus MacPherson made two changes to the starting lineup. As expected, goal scorer Iain Anderson replaced Alan Reid, whilst John Sutton replaced Stewart Kean up front. The pre-match excitement increased when the stadium announcer revealed that David McKinney will announce some signing news on Scotsport First tomorrow, although this may well be a wind up.
Over the ninety minutes today, a draw was probably a fair result. Hamilton hit the woodwork through Mark Gilhaney early on, before Raymond jellema pushed a Charlie Adam free kick onto the woodwork at the other end.
Former Accies man Mark Corcoran was looking lively up front for Saints, and produced a great cut back that John Sutton failed to connect with, before Adam dispatched the loose ball into the stand with the goal gaping. Just before half time, Corcoran hit the woodwork with a great overhead kick, and no Saints player could force the rebound in.
Hamilton had had lots of possession but were mainly having long shots, although Chris Smith had to look sharp on more than a few occasions in the second half. This pattern continued in the second period, although Hamilton failed to take what few chances they created.
Saints best chances came from some Anderson headers, that Jellema did well to save, and a good run from Corcoran before he fired wide.
The main talking point was the poor performance of referee Kenny Clark, who made some bizarre decisions throughout the game. Sutton was flattened inside the box yet play waved on, whilst seconds before the final whilst David van Zanten shoved a Hamilton player to the carpet and went unpunished. Genius!
St. Johnstone move into second place, ten points behind the Buddies. Next up for us is Ross County at home, let's hope we can make it three from three against the Staggies.